


Once, Someone Asked Me...

by Cfbear2



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 02:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6935833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cfbear2/pseuds/Cfbear2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"So sit down my nephew. You shall finally know the truth of how your father - my best friend - died."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once, Someone Asked Me...

Once, someone asked me to tell them about the day I remembered most vividly; what day was it? What happened? Why did I remember it so well? I told them that days were all the same to me, that I couldn't recall a day that I remembered better than the rest. Well, I lied.

I know you've asked many others about that day, but everyone either refused to give you a straight answer or, like my self, downright denied knowing anything more than rumors.

However, it's time you knew the truth of what actually happened to your father that morning. Your mother might not approve of my telling you, but she has no right to stop me. After all, the story is mine to tell as, contrary to everything I've said to you before, I was there.

I was the only one there.

So sit down, my nephew. You shall finally know the true tale of how your father - my best friend - died. 

I hadn't seen him in months prior - we lived too far apart, and the demands of everyday life were just too, well, demanding. Regardless, whenever we could, we would make time to visit each other. Despite some differences, we were very close and often wrote to each other whenever we had news or if it had been too long since we'd seen each other.

I will admit - I was pretty judgmental of your father before I really knew him. I thought he was snobbish, heartless, and many other things I'm ashamed to have once thought of him. But as fate would have it, we met and ended up really hitting it off soon after. 

As previously said, we lived so very far apart. That didn't stop us. We were to meet up on Tuesday, April 23, 1843. So I left the place where I was living before dawn the morning of the 22nd, just as he said he would do as well. I rode all day and all night, my horse and I only stopping for brief breaks or for food and water. I went alone. If this were anyone else I was meeting up with, some of my other friends would have come. Not for him. Our times together were so limited that we had agreed that it would be just us.

Well, by the time I arrived at the small city (which was honestly more like a largish town) where we were to meet on the morning of the 23rd, both my horse and I were exhausted. I grinned. We had made great time in getting there, so for once I had probably beaten him in the who-gets-there-first game.

With that thought, I had triumphantly marched to the inn on the outskirts of the city while thinking up various ways to tease him about it. "You're late," I decided would say. "Is this even possible? Quick, someone call the doctor, my friend is loosing his mind!"

And so of course it was to my utter annoyance when I discovered him peacefully reading a book on the inn's porch, looking perfectly well rested and put together.

He snapped the book closed and looked up with a mischievous smirk on his face. "You're late."

"Aw, shut up, Mr. Always Early." I tried to suppress a smile for the sake of being annoyed at him, but it was in vain. "I'm glad to see you," I said as I awkwardly attempted to throw my luggage over my shoulders as I led my horse to the nearby stables.

"I'm glad to see you as well," he replied as he swiftly walked from the porch over to me. "Go check in to the inn. I'll take your horse to the stables."

"Thanks," I said as he took the reins, leaving me free to shift my stuff to a more comfortable position. "You're awesome."

"I'm flattered."

We spent the rest of the day catching up, discussing various books we had both read, and playing chess on the board that had been left in the hotel room that we were sharing. Besides the fact that two of the black pawns were missing and that he kicked my butt at all three games due to the fact that I was still half asleep from my night ride (I to this day cannot figure out how he operated so well on practically no sleep), we had a great time.

The next day, we went into the city, taking turns choosing the activity. We visited a couple various museums, tasted some of the city's diverse food choices, took a detour to the library (of which I was only able to drag him out of with the threat of missing the play we had gotten tickets to), and overall just had a grand time together. 

The third day, we decided to go hiking, which was admittedly more of my thing than his, but he was perfectly happy to do it anyway. There was a small mountain quite near the city, and I was looking forward to seeing the view from the top. So after forcing us awake early (I literally had to shove him out of bed - a feat he was not too pleased about), we were standing at the base of the trail soon after dawn.

The hike up was uneventful, yet beautiful. It was early fall, so the leafs were still in that state of being vibrant yellows, reds, and oranges. We reached the top shortly after noon where we ate the lunch we packed wile sitting on top of a flat boulder with an amazing view of the earth below us.

Despite having earlier grumbled about being sweaty, he agreed that the hike had been worth it (which made me quite happy). Well, soon enough we finished lunch and had to start back down the mountain as not to be stuck hiking in the dark.

It was about three fourths the way back that it all happened. Neither of us heard or suspected anything until it was upon us. He was walking a few paces ahead of me when a low and raspy voice appeared from nowhere behind us.

"I... Resent you...."

I turned to see who had spoken. My heart stopped. A tall, hooded man stood a mere ten feet behind me, one hand pointed straight at me, fully charged with dark magic. All of my joints locked up. The fear, the shock, it was just too much. I froze up.

"The little prince Takumi... It's about time the world was rid of you..."

The next few moments passed so quickly, yet in my eyes too slow. The dark magic rushed at me like a black panther dealing the finishing blow. I felt something hard knock into me from the side, knocking me out of the spell's path. It vaguely registered in my mind that he had pushed me out of the way, but I didn't have time to reflect on that. The push awakened adrenaline in me, so before he could recharge his magic, I pulled a dagger out of my boot, rushed at him and stabbed him in the chest.

He fell, blood spilling on the ground. Suddenly the previous events caught up to me. That man was trying to kill me. Then my friend pushed me out of the way. A heavy lump formed in my throat as I sprinted over to where the man's dark magic had thrown yhim. He was laying beneath a tree, not moving.

"No...," I gasped softly, frantically looking for any signs of life. "No... Leo... Come on, wake up!!" I shook his shoulder as one might try to wake up a sleepy sibling, but I knew that it was useless. There was no heartbeat. "WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!"

The next few days were little more than a blur to me. I don't remember how, what, or when anything happened. My next memory came from three days later at dusk on the bank of a beautiful lake deep in the heartland of Nohr. The set up was too familiar, for his funeral was arranged in the same way as my mother's. I remember it as if it were yesterday. She was floated out onto the waters were a single arrow of fire was shot out to burn her body. That then sparked a chorus of fiery arrows to light up the sky in her remembrance.

Too soon, the ceremony began, and it became increasingly difficult to hold back tears. That should be me, I thought as he was floated towards the center of the lake. The attack was aimed at me.

A minute later, Xander placed a hand on my shoulder. "Takumi, it's time," he informed me quietly. So it was with blurry eyes that I lit an arrow, took aim, and shot out my final good bye to the man that I called my best friend.

"So there you have it, Forrest. That's the story of how your father died for a weak man without enough inner strength to move out of the way." We sat in silence for a while as Forrest contemplated what I had just said.

"You feel as if you alone caused his passing," He said abruptly.

"Well, I... I guess?" I replied, flustered from his sudden blunt statement.

"Don't," he all but ordered. "He knew that there was no time to draw a weapon to counterattack, that it was your life or his own." With that Forrest lifted his head and looked me straight in the eye. "He made his choice."

I broke eye contact and meekly lowered my head. "I know."

And yet, he's dead on my account.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Just call me Scatter!
> 
> So one day I was just going about my life as usual when this thought popped into my head. I wrote it down because A) I wanted to, and B) to watch my best friend's reaction as she read this. (Sorry, you know who you are.) That's why only pronouns and non-specific words were used until the big reveal when Leo died to save Takumi.
> 
> However, you guys had the benifit of knowing who the characters were due to the little info screen thing, so...
> 
> Anyway, she suggested that I post it on here, and I was like "sure, why not?" So after having an account for all of ten minutes, here's my story.
> 
> As to why Takumi refers to Forrest as his nephew... Um... He married Elise or something. I don't really know.
> 
> Please comment, and I hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
